Hidden Inside
by mischiefmanaged.frost
Summary: She reached out for the precious hitai-ate Iruka had given her, now imprinted in the dirt, but it was still far out of her exhausted reach. Sakura closed her eyes painfully, too tired to even wince. She laid there as silent tears ran down her cheeks, mixing with the dirt and blood and leaving behind trails of mud on her face. (Rated T for some child abuse)
1. Genin Exams

**_Genin Exams_**

The day before the academy graduation exams to become a genin, Haruno Sakura walked up silently as her name was called and transformed perfectly into Iruka-sensei.

The original Iruka nodded at her and she finished the jutsu and walked back to her seat.

No one in the class quite knew what to do with Sakura when they actually remembered she existed. Sakura was average for an academy student, a little behind in her academic studies, and kept to herself. She rarely spoke and constantly did her best to make herself invisible to the rest of the class. Her bright, though usually slightly dirty or ragged, pink hair was her only noticeable feature, with bangs that hung low over her eyes and a low ponytail that barely hung past her shoulders.

She was from a ninja clan originally, but Sakura's uncle, Shin, had drilled into her the basics of a shinobi from the day her parents disappeared, 7 years ago. A shinobi is quiet, unnoticed. Never loud, never obnoxious, never obvious. They are watchful, observant of all their surrounds, and can make instant decisions based on their situation, and this was what she strove to be.

Although he was only a chunin to the rest of the village, a spiral tattoo marked Uncle Shin as a retired ANBU.

He was relentless in Sakura's training.

She was expected to learn basic ninjutsu and genjutsu techniques and signs in a matter of days, and was punished every time she missed a target with kunai or shuriken. She often had bruises from training at home that were so bad she could barely hide them, and she was constantly exhausted in class, so much so that she could rarely stay awake the entire day. The exhaustion was particularly bad after nights when Uncle Shin made her spar with him for hours on end, with only taijutsu. Or when he decided to get roaring drunk and give her some impromptu dodging practice. Those nights were awful, because her uncle was a long-range specialist with a very, very nasty temper.

She held no grudge against him because he told her it was for her own good, so that she wouldn't end up dead and useless like her mother and father.

* * *

><p>A day later Sakura walked into the examination room at the academy, nervously putting a hand on her stomach.<p>

"Create two clones. That is your graduation exam."

Sakura stared at the proctors. That was it?

That was all she had to do to pass?!

She glanced at Iruka-sensei, who nodded at her. She quickly formed the seals and steeled herself against the horrible drain of chakra, making herself stay standing through the rush of lightheadedness and nausea.

Two perfect clones stood next to her.

"Good job, Sakura. You've graduated." Iruka grinned at her and she grinned, giddy, back at him, taking the blue hitai-ate -ate he handed her. She did it! She had become a genin!

* * *

><p>She crossed the academy grounds over to Shin, who was waiting with the other parents, but stopped short as she noticed his expression.<p>

"Haruno." He said shortly, staring at her, and her smile fell as quickly as it had come. "It seems that soft idiot Iruka thinks you are able to actually act like a shinobi, instead of just a brat playing ninja. I will decide for myself."

Sakura cleaned her face of any emotion, and bowed to him. He turned and strode back towards the training yard behind his house and she followed, silently preparing herself.

She knew that voice he used.

* * *

><p>Uncle Shin's test was as brutal as she had expected it to be. Every time she blocked one of his hits, two more were behind it, twice as fast and twice as strong. For hours he tested her past her limits, in physical strength, in the jutsus she had learned, in her reaction times. He wasn't impressed.<p>

"Weak." He sneered at her collapsed form on the ground, long after the moon had risen. "You aren't worthy of the title of shinobi."

He turned his back on the pink-haired girl in the dirt, and walked away. Sakura gritted her teeth and wavered to her feet.

"Uncle, wait, I-"

* * *

><p>Shin turned back to stare at the small form that was trembling, trying to stand in a defensive position. He smirked, and grabbed a handful of rocks from the potted plant on the deck of his house. He started tossing them lazily at the idiot pink-haired brat before him.<p>

She dodged the first few, recognizing another test, but Shin got annoyed, and threw them more pointedly, with more force. His aim wasn't perfect, because he let the brat touch him a few times, and she had landed a pitiful hit on his arm.

After a few handfuls of rocks were gone, one finally hit her shoulder, and spun her around with enough force to make the already exhausted brat fall to her knees, and another rock knocked the new, dirty, and sweaty hitai-ate off her head, which snapped back, and she fell backwards and lay there, motionless.

He walked towards her, hiding the limp and pains his own mistakes had cost him in their earlier spar. There was no way the mouse had even a chance of actually landing a hit, he sneered to himself. Shin unconsciously flexed the spiral tattoo that marked him as an ex-ANBU.

He stopped and looked at the brat. Still awake, after eight hours and that last hit? He snorted. She would never learn just how weak she was.

"You're pitiful. A failure. And you don't deserve to wear the leaf of the Konoha elite." Shin used his foot to grind the particular headband into the ground well within the brat's sight. He laughed then, and added, "You're lucky, mouse. At least you'll know that you're weak and useless before you actually go get yourself killed on a mission you weren't ready for, like your parents."

Shin turned away, leaving Sakura lying on the ground behind him.

* * *

><p>She reached out for the precious hitai-ate Iruka had given her that was now imprinted into the dirt, but it was still far out of her exhausted reach.<p>

Sakura closed her eyes painfully, too tired to even wince. She laid there as silent tears ran down her cheeks, mixing with the dirt and blood and leaving behind trails of mud on her face.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

So this concludes the first chapter of my first story uploaded on here. Please leave a review, of things I can do better, misspellings, weird finicky things I've forgotten, criticism, anything is welcome! I may even finish the story if I get reviews... *hint hint*

...

Please? *puppy eyes*


	2. Team Assignments

**_Team Assignments_**

The next day, Sakura woke up dirty, stiff, sore, and in pain in the training yard. She pushed herself up off the ground carefully, blinking in the bright morning light.

Oh no, she wasn't late for class, was she?! Today was the day she finally got assigned to her genin team!

But her sudden rushed nervousness and excitement fell as she saw the hitai-ate, so new and shiny and perfect yesterday now ground into the dirt before her. Sakura carefully schooled her face into a blank expression, though she wanted to cry so badly it felt like she couldn't breathe.

Uncle Shin was much, much, stronger than Iruka-sensei. He was right, wasn't he? She was weak.

Sakura went inside and washed her wounds mechanically and with practiced precision, dressing the cuts and scrapes and nicks from the kunai, shuriken, and wire, the same way the medics at the hospital always had. On the deeper cuts and burns she spread ointment she had smuggled from the hospital on her last visit, a month ago.

Then she did a little trick she had found in a medical book a few years back when she had hid in the central library. (Shin knew that particular hiding place by now though.) Sakura focused on the tiny bit of chakra in her body that she could feel and turned it into base chakra, the kind medics used, and pushed it around her body to heal her from the inside out. She didn't know if it really worked, but it made it easier to move and that way she knew how much chakra she had for the day, too.

She got dressed in her usual clothes, a blain brown tunic with a mesh shirt underneath, calf-length tight black pants, and worn black sandals. She packed a few weapons and glanced at her hitai-ate. It was still dirty, a bit bloody, and slightly burnt from the fire ninjutsu Uncle Shin had used last night.

Sakura washed the blue headband and tied it around her waist where she could hide it more easily, her cheeks red with shame.

She didn't deserve to wear it.

* * *

><p>As it turned out, Sakura wasn't late for school. She got there in time and sat in her usual seat in the corner of the classroom, watching everyone else.<p>

Ino had thrown a fit over Naruto sitting next to Sasuke, which was funny to Sakura because Naruto liked Ino and Sasuke really didn't care either way. Sakura smiled softly, because those three were fun to watch. They took her mind off the pain and helped her forget about Uncle Shin. And Naruto had even graduated, which was surprising. The only person Uncle Shin seemed to hate more than herself was Naruto.

Sakura caught Hinata's eye and smiled. The Hyuuga was shyer than Sakura herself was and the two of them had usually ended up as partners in class by default because they were never confident enough to ask anyone else. They had formed a tentative friendship over the years, but Sakura would do anything for the little Hyuuga. She was her first friend. The smaller girl also had the biggest crush on Naruto which Sakura thought was adorable, if slightly misguided.

"Good luck on your team, Sakura," Hinata murmured.

"You too Hinata," Sakura grinned, then winced. Her voice sounded too loud to be proper for the heiress, but Hinata smiled at her anyways and she let out a small breath she hadn't known she was holding. Hinata really was nice.

Sakura looked back to the drama group just in time to see Sasuke and Naruto in a lip lock. Her eyes widened, and then she broke out into quiet, but mad giggles as the rest of the class roared with laughter. Naruto and Sasuke argued fiercely, both completely grossed out and defensive over what was obviously an accident. And then Naruto was soundly beat by Ino. Again.

She giggled again, wondering what a team would be like if it had those three in it and then felt sorry for their hypothetical Jounin instructor.

Then she paled. When Uncle Shin disappeared this morning, did that mean...? No, he wouldn't be a jounin instructor, everyone thought he was just a chunin! He had forbidden her to let anyone know about his ANBU tattoo, the Hokage wouldn't dare let them know he was stronger than just a chunin….

"Alright, genin, settle down." Iruka-sensei grinned at the group in front of them. "First off, congratulations on graduating from the academy." There was a cheer from everyone in the class and even a smile from Hinata.

Sakura tried to smile for her, but couldn't quite manage it. Her headache was steadily getting worse as Iruka started listing off the genin teams, too, and the pain and nausea from the seal Uncle Shin had put on her chakra near her stomach was getting bad.

She never complained though, if she could help it. He said it would make her stronger because it acted like a big weight on her entire body, and he said it also made it so that she could only ever use about 1/15th of her chakra, which was good practice. And plus, the pain meant she was getting stronger, that her chakra was coming back after last night.

"Team 7, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto," Sakura vaguely heard Iruka-sensei say her name, bringing her back to the world around her. She managed to glance up and look at her two team-mates in shock.

"Good luck," She heard Hinata murmur, more heartfelt this time, and Sakura paled.

"Thanks," she whispered back, "I'll need it."

"Awww, come on, I have to be with him?! Wait, who's Sakura?!" Naruto twisted around and Sakura wished she could just disappear into thin air. Uncle would hate this, even if she did manage to stay a genin ninja and not have to go back to the academy.

"Idiot," Ino huffed, and slammed Naruto's head into the desk. And then she turned to glare at Sakura in the back of the room. "Don't think you're better than me, pinky. Sasuke is mine," Ino hissed, well within hearing of the entire class. Sakura nodded emphatically and fearfully at Ino, the daughter of a high-ranking shinobi, the head of the intelligence division in fact. Ino had to be strong. There was no way Sakura would ever challenge her.

Sakura saw both Naruto and Sasuke looking at her and turned away quickly, looking at the desk in front of her. She could also feel the stares of everyone in the class and her cheeks burned in shame. She didn't know what they expected her to do and nearly fainted from relief when Iruka-sensei cleared his throat.

"Team 8 will be Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba..."

Sakura smiled as she heard a soft sigh from Hinata, as Kiba loudly made his opinion known.

* * *

><p>"Where is our teacher?!" Naruto demanded of the classroom door for the seventeenth time in the past two hours.<p>

Sakura could practically hear Sasuke gritting his teeth together from all the way across the classroom. "I don't know, idiot."

"Shut up, asshole." Naruto grumbled. As Sakura tried to watch him despite her nagging headache and nausea, she saw his fidgeting get worse.

He began to jump around the classroom, hopping on desks and making paper airplanes from notepaper left behind and aiming for a bulls-eye on the chalkboard from various positions around the room. She giggled quietly when he threw an airplane from between his legs, backwards, and it nearly flew into Sasuke's nose.

Then Naruto stopped moving and a mischievous grin crossed his face. He ran out of the door before either Sasuke or Sakura had a chance to protest.

She got up hesitatingly, wondering why the instructor was so late. Maybe she hadn't been assigned a jounin, or Uncle Shin had changed the Hokage's mind and failed her, or maybe even Naruto too, and was going to put Sasuke on another team. It would make the most sense, after all. Maybe she should go ask Iruka-sensei, he wasn't far. And if Naruto wasn't coming back…

Sakura walked down to the front row and hovered near one of the desks, trying to get up the nerve to talk to Sasuke. She did think he was a bit cute. And he was very strong too, in the class spars.

"Do you think he'll come back?" Sakura said softly, just loud enough for Sasuke to hear her. He snorted.

"Probably. Idiot's too excited about actually graduating."

As if on cue, Naruto barreled back into the room with something in his hand. He cackled madly as he went around to the cupboards, spreading what Sakura suspected was super-glue all over the insides of drawers and cabinets, and even in the keyholes and on the feet of the teacher's chair. He also glued the light switch permanently on, and the chalk to the chalkboard, and the erasers underneath the teacher's desk. Sakura grinned, though she worried he was going to get in more trouble, maybe even get the whole team in trouble.

She watched him while he finished setting everything up and decided it was probably a good idea to keep Naruto occupied at all times. Though he was very entertaining, and his mad cackle seemed to be infectious. She had to admit, he really did think of everything when it involved a prank.

Even Sasuke was so bored he watched the prankster set up Iruka's impending headache.

"He's going to know it was you, idiot." Sasuke finally said.

"Ha! You just wish you had the guts to come up with something this brilliant, asshole." Naruto finished holding the chalk up on the board to dry, stepped back to inspect his work, and nodded. The chalk had been arranged in a pile of poo. Sakura smothered a laugh, thinking of Iruka's reaction.

Naruto had kept one eraser, though from its fate under the desk. He smeared the bottom of it in the rest of the entire bottle of glue, pulled over a chair, and clambered up to the door, and lodged the eraser carefully between the door and the threshold, glue-side down.

"Serves him right for being so late," Naruto said proudly.

"He's a jounin, he's not going to fall for something as stupid as that," Sasuke grumbled, but Naruto ignored him, grinning like a madman.

He started fidgeting again and Sakura sat down, deciding to wait with her new team. Most of the nausea had faded, though her entire body was still sore and aching.

She had never talked much with either of her new teammates and studied them now from behind a curtain of pink bangs.

Sasuke kept to himself, only speaking when someone - usually Naruto or Kiba - goaded him into it. He was the last of his clan, who was killed in a terrible massacre by his older brother years ago. And he was smart, pushing himself to be the top of the class, and strong in the class spars. He liked to show off, in his own less obnoxious way.

Naruto, on the other hand, was the infamous prankster nobody liked very much (except Hinata, Sakura remembered with a grin) but he didn't seem, bad. Not like Uncle Shin always talked about. He didn't have any parents either. Team Orphan, Sakura thought, without much humor.

Naruto looked at Sakura, and then at Sasuke, and back to Sakura.

"Figures. I get stuck with the quiet people."

"I talk," Sakura said softly.

"And Sasuke argues, I guess." Naruto added, rubbing the back of his head. Said boy turned and glared at Naruto. "Eh, could be worse," the blond continued. 'Coulda been Shino or Shikamaru."

At that precise moment, every single one of them heard the door to the room slide open, and Naruto whipped around eagerly to watch his prank in action. The three genin watched as the eraser fell and landed in a slight puff of chalk dust on a silvery-haired masked man. And stuck.

All three kids were speechless for a moment.

"Gotcha!" Naruto cackled. "Serves you right, we've been waiting for_ever!_"

Sakura just stared at the older man in the doorway. Though it was pretty funny, even she knew to check for traps as obvious as that. Was he actually a jounin? Uncle Shin would've had her do hours of training just for falling for that simple trap.

"Well," the man said. "My first impression of you three is…"

…

"I hate you. Meet me on the rooftop in five minutes." His lone eye crinkled upwards in what Sakura assumed was a sarcastic smile, but all she could do was think about those three words. They seemed to echo in her head.

_I hate you. I hate you.** I hate you**_.

Sakura knew it. There was no way she was going to be able to stay a genin.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Gah! Sakura is going to be hard to write...

Reviews mean much love! :)

Seriously though.

Please?


	3. Kakashi's Team

**_Kakashi's Team_**

The three genin stared at the jounin who disappeared in a poof, along with the eraser.

"_HEY!_" Naruto yelled, recovering from his shock first. "You don't even _know_ us yet!" The boy rushed out of the classroom into the hallway.

Sakura stared at the open door and tried not to burst into tears. She was usually much better at controlling herself than this, but _why?_

She and Sasuke pushed back their chairs and went to follow Naruto at a slower pace.

* * *

><p>They made it up to the rooftop in three minutes to see Naruto spinning around, trying to find the jounin. Sakura's stomach was still twisted into a knot, and she couldn't breathe very well. None of them were going to stay genin, were they?<p>

She took out a long, thin chain from her small side pocket and wrapped it tightly around her hand, distracting herself from the fear. It was a habit, and helped her focus on her surroundings through her fear.

By the time she had finished wrapping the chain around her hand, the tall jounin showed up. He hopped neatly over the railing and leaned against it, studying the three.

"Now, I'd like for you three to share a little bit about yourselves. Your likes, dislikes, dreams, ambitions, hobbies, stuff like that." He said, after a long while.

They stared at him.

"But we don't even know your name yet!" Naruto said emphatically.

"Sensei," Sakura said softly, "Would you go first?"

Everyone on the rooftop went silent at hearing her speak, and Sakura turned pale and looked down quickly as she realized she had just asked a shinobi of much, much higher rank to tell them about himself. The jounin's one eye turned towards her and inspected her.

"Hmmm. Well then. My name is Hatake Kakashi, I like some things, and I don't like a lot of other things. My dreams for the future are none of your business, and I have a few hobbies. Now it's your turn," he said, nodding to Naruto.

Sakura looked up quickly. Kakashi-sensei didn't sound mad that she had asked him, but he also didn't really say very much at all about himself. He just sounded, bored? She looked him over, trying to figure out if he was anything like Uncle.

"Hey, alright!" Naruto crowed. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I like instant ramen. But I like when Iruka-sensei buys me ramen at Ichiraku's much better. I really don't like having to wait for the ramen to cook though."

Sakura stared at Naruto. How much ramen did he usually eat?!

"My dream is to become a better shinobi than the Fourth Hokage, cause he was _awesome! _And then everyone will have to finally acknowledge that I exist!" Naruto finished with a flourish.

Sakura's first reaction was to smile at the joke, but then realized Naruto was completely serious. There was no hint of mockery was in his voice and there wasn't a joke anywhere in sight. He really thought he could be a greater ninja than the Fourth Hokage?! And for having the village acknowledge he exist, well… Sakura knew that everyone looked at him the same way Uncle Shin did to her. With hate.

"My hobbies are pranks and practical jokes, I guess." Naruto finished.

Kakashi-sensei rubbed his hair, staring at Naruto. "Fourth Hokage huh… Well you got a _long_ way to go, kid. Next."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are plenty of things I hate, which don't really matter because there is almost nothing I do like. Dreams are pointless, but I do have determination. There is someone I have sworn to kill."

Sakura stared at Sasuke in shock, but then remembered that his brother had killed his entire family. It wasn't so surprising. And then her stomach flipped and nausea came over her as she realized it was her turn.

"And finally, the young lady," Kakashi nodded to Sakura.

"Um, I've never really thought about it. I suppose I like watching the stars at night, and I train a lot, with my Uncle. I just…" Sakura trailed off. She felt the hitai-ate on her stomach, right over her chakra weight. A sudden thought came to her, and she decided what her dream was. "I want to be strong, and be able to protect."

"Alright then," Kakashi-sensei said. Sakura frowned. The mask made it extremely hard to tell what he was thinking. "I think we all know a little bit more about each other now. Formal training will begin tomorrow."

"Alright!" Naruto pumped his fist in the air. "Our first mission. What is it, what is it?"

Sakura jumped at Naruto's extremely loud voice, wary of Kakashi's reaction and then sighed inwardly when no sign of anger came.

"Our first project involves only the members of this team."

"What is it?!" Naruto practically yelled from excitement.

"Survival exercises."

Naruto looked extremely confused. "But why? We did that in the academy."

Kakasi-sensei grinned. "You'll have to survive against _me. _Only nine academy graduates will be able to continue as genin-level shinobi. If you do not make it through this exercise, you will return to the academy for more training."

At that revelation, Naruto protested rather loudly but Sakura was strangely calm. She would fail, and return to the academy. She didn't look forward to Uncle Shins reaction but it was something she knew she could handle.

"We'll meet tomorrow morning at the training grounds so that I can evaluate your performance in this survival exercise. Bring all of your tools and weapons, and don't eat breakfast, unless, of course, you enjoy throwing up."

Sakura looked up at Kakashi-sensei through her bangs. Throwing up from pain wasn't new to her.

"The details of your assignment are in this handout. Memorize it, and don't be late!" Kakashi-sensei's eye crinkled into what Sakura assumed was a smile, and then he disappeared with a 'poof.'

The three genin were left staring at where he disappeared from.

* * *

><p>Sakura went home and began to prepare for the survival test. Uncle Shin wouldn't come until after dinner, and then he would probably question her about the team assignments and then train.<p>

She went into her room and took off the hitai-ate, setting it on her desk. She wouldn't be a genin after tomorrow. That was alright, she hadn't expected to be able to stay a shinobi for long. But Naruto and Sasuke, they had dreams. Even if Sasuke's was a bit, overambitious, and Naruto's practically impossible she wouldn't keep them from following their dreams. She would help them. Hers could never happen anyway.

Survival… Everything that word entailed. Sustenance, water, oxygen, defense. But this was a survival _mission_. Would Kakashi-sensei expect them to attack? Or was the survival just in the test? Sakura shook her head. What could she do to get the boys to pass?

Sakura absentmindedly cleaned and sharpened her weapons while she thought. Sasuke could fight well, and he had his fire techniques. Naruto was good at pranks and planning them, and he was brash, giving his all to a fight. Pranking a jounin might be near impossible and Naruto's focus left something to be desired, but Kakashi-sensei had fallen for the eraser… Now that she thought about it, first impressions were important in a fight, weren't they? It was obvious now, Kakashi wanted them to underestimate him. The fight, or mission, or whatever it was, had already started the moment Kakashi had seen Naruto's prank, perhaps even beforehand. But what was the goal of the exercise? The paper hadn't held anything more than a time and location. Sakura sighed. It was a purely situational exercise.

So how to mix their techniques? Pranks, fire, fighting. What was Sakura herself good at?

She stood up when she heard the scrape of the front door and walked to the living room, her stomach twisting nervously under the constant ache of the seal.

"Uncle," she said, bowing.

* * *

><p>Shin looked over at the brat and gritted his teeth. He hadn't heard her coming through the hallway and could barely sense her miniscule amount of chakra. Then he smirked, when he noticed she wasn't wearing the hitai-ate.<p>

"Failed already, mouse?"

Sakura straightened slowly, but didn't look him in the eye. "No, Uncle. Kakashi-sensei will test our team tomorrow morning."

Shin nearly choked, staring at the girl. Hatake Kakashi? "Who else is on your team?"

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke." She said quietly.

"Huh. Well it makes sense. The top of the class with the lowest." Shin said. "And the Uchiha boy with Kakashi." He looked at the girl. "Although, Kakashi was an ANBU operative. He has never passed a genin team for as long as he has been given them."

He walked out into the training yard attached to the Haruno house, grinning to himself. The mouse had frozen and turned pale at that last piece of information.

It was a very nice house, but the girl was an inconvenience. Merely a training exercise for him, to keep his skills sharp while he waited.

* * *

><p>Sakura winced as the awful killing intent spiked and automatically drew a kunai, tightening the chain on her hand.<p>

"Let's see what you learned from last night."

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN:_**

For some reason, this was more difficult to write. I'm still trying to figure out Sakura and Shin. Particularly Shin. Oh and Sasuke is _extremely _difficult for me to write. Bleeehhhh... Happy Thanksgiving for those who celebrate it! (I love the cranberry sauce. ;) )


	4. Second Impressions

**_Second Impressions_**

Shin had let her off easily tonight. Sakura picked up the fallen kunai and shuriken slowly, and stumbled back into the house at around two in the morning. She took off the sweat-filled and torn training clothes and set out a big shirt that she had found in her parents old room years ago to sleep in. (She only went through the house when Uncle Shin went out on long escort missions, and inevitably came back drunk.)

She turned on the cold water in the bathtub, filled it with ice, and mechanically sank into the freezing water, feeling the pains and sores in her body go numb. Sakura sped up the tiny amount of chakra in her system, forcing it to heal her a bit better but still wincing as the pain in her stomach increased exponentially. She assumed the pain was from the chakra pushed up against the seal that was trying to fill her empty chakra coils.

She washed the dirt and blood left from now two nights of practice from under her nails and in her hair, and when the water had warmed up she got up, dressed, and went to bed.

It took a long time for Sakura to sleep, because as her body got warmer, the pain came back.

* * *

><p>Sakura walked to the training grounds, making it to the specified practice area a few minutes early at 7:55. Sasuke was already there, and even Naruto had showed up by 8:00.<p>

The three waited, and waited, and waited.

Sakura fell asleep clutching a kunai while the boys waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

* * *

><p>By 9:30 Naruto looked ready to kill someone and even Sasuke was muttering under his breath.<p>

And so they waited.

And waited.

* * *

><p>By 10:00, Sakura had woken back up again to Naruto and Sasuke arguing about ramen. She rubbed her eyes. What?<p>

"Its just calories and salt, idiot." Sasuke said.

"Ha! What-_ever! _You wouldn't know good food if it hit you in the face!" Sasuke's eye twitched as Naruto continued on, smirking. "You're just jealous cause I make better ramen than you do."

"I don't _eat _ramen." Sasuke gritted his teeth, but couldn't seem to stop his mouth from moving. "And even if I did, I _definitely _wouldn't eat anything _you _made. I don't want to die, _thanks_."

Sakura couldn't help it.

She giggled.

And when the two boys turned to look at her in unison, opposite eyebrows raised, she laughed aloud.

"What?!" Naruto demanded.

"Maybe," she snickered, trying to catch her breath, "Sasuke, maybe you should serve some of Naruto's ramen to whoever you want to kill, then." Naruto's jaw dropped, Sasuke sputtered incoherently, and Sakura laughed so hard she rolled around on the ground.

Naruto was the first to get over his shock at seeing the normally silent girl laugh outright. He grinned as she managed to calm down enough to stand. "That was a good one."

"Thanks," she said, and looked down at the ground, still smiling.

There was a quiet pause, and Sasuke leaned against one of the stumps.

"There's still a 66% percent passing rate of this test." He said, and the other two's smiles dropped.

"But that's like, two out of three, right?" Naruto said. He looked around at the three of them. Sakura smiled sadly.

"It's okay, I probably won't pass anyways," she said. "But you two will."

She looked up at the boys, who just stared at her. She froze and went white, and looked at the ground again. The nausea came back full force and she clenched her fist, the chain tightening around the flesh of her hand. Why, oh why, did she always have to make a fool of herself? First saying that, about the ramen, and then this… She was drawing too much attention, then they would notice and realize just how weak she really was.

* * *

><p>The boys, however, both watched in shock as the pink-haired girl in front of them completely shut herself off again, like at the academy, and wondered why she had opened up so suddenly before.<p>

* * *

><p>"Good morning class!" Kakashi-sensei called from the edge of the clearing. They whirled around to face him.<p>

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke frowned, but Sakura just tightened the chain on her hand. The battle had already begun, and she didn't even know what they were fighting for.

"Sorry, I got lost." Kakashi-sensei's eye crinkled up in a smile. The three genin just stared at him. He cleared his throat, and set an alarm clock on the middle stump.

"Alright." He turned to face the kids. "I have two bells. Your mission is to steal them from me before noon. Anyone who fails to take a bell from me doesn't get any lunch. Instead, you will be tied to the tree stump so I can eat your lunch in front of you. You will also be sent back to the academy."

Sakura kept her face expressionless, but inwardly was confused. Kakashi-sensei didn't sound malicious, just, slightly sadistic and… Tired? And why taunt them with food as well when the academy was a much, much bigger threat?

"There's three of us," Sakura pointed out quietly, more from Naruto's benefit than her own.

Kakashi-sensei nodded. "One of you is going to fail, of course."

Sakura saw both Sasuke and Naruto glance at her out of the corner of her eye and tried not to throw up. She already knew one of the team would fail, and that would be her.

Kakashi-sensei continued, seemingly not noticing the silent exchange between the boys. "Attack as though you mean to kill, or you'll never stand a chance against me."

"HA!" Naruto said. Sakura was beginning to think he couldn't say anything _not_ loudly. "You couldn't even dodge my eraser! You're gonna get yourself killed."

Kakashi-sensei looked at him for a long moment. "Only the weak speak loudly."

Sakura winced inwardly. She knew that, and still couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"Now," the jounin continued. "We shall start on my signal."

Sakura felt the meager amount of killing intent from Naruto spike as the boy ran towards their sensei, fully intent on attacking him but then the jounin was behind him instantly and twisted the razor-sharp kunai Naruto held to his own neck.

"Not so fast," Kakashi-sensei chuckled under the mask. "I didn't say 'go' yet." He studied the boy underneath him, trembling in fury. "Although, you did strike to kill me. Heh, I might, maybe, be starting to like you three. "

"Ready, set, GO!"

The four ninja disappeared.

* * *

><p>Sakura turned and jumped up into a tree, making sure to use chakra to stifle the sounds of her landing. Her chakra was insignificant enough she wouldn't be noticeable, and the wind was blowing towards her, away from where Kakashi-sensei stood by the river. She was careful not to make a sound as she tried to locate her teammates without drawing Kakashi-sensei's attention. Sasuke was nowhere to be found, and Naruto…<p>

"Oi!" Naruto yelled, standing a few meters from where their jounin-sensei stood, arms crossed. Sakura sighed. "It's time for the match to begin! It'll be a battle worthy of the greatest warriors!"

"Um," Kakashi-sensei said. "You may be thinking of the wrong kind of match."

Sakura saw Naruto visibly twitch. "The only thing that's wrong here is your hairstyle!" Naruto yelled, and rushed forward to attack. She stifled the urge to laugh. So many times she had watched Sasuke and Naruto arguing in class and now they were, temporarily, on her team.

"Lesson number one,' Kakashi-sensei said. "is Taijutsu." The masked man pulled something from his pack, and Sakura tried to look closer to see what kind of weapon he was using. It was orange, that was for sure. But… Did he just start reading?! In a taijutsu fight?! Naruto stood in front of him, dumbfounded.

Sakura heard a few twigs snap quietly to her left, and looked down. She found Sasuke, who was lying under a bush in wait.

"Is something wrong?" Kakashi-sensei asked Naruto, not looking up from the little orange book. "I thought you were coming for me?"

"But you… Why… I mean… THAT'S A BOOK!" Naruto sputtered out finally.

"Of course it's a book. I've been dying to find out how this story ends. Carry on," He waved a hand towards Naruto, "It shouldn't make any difference in the outcome, considering who I'm up against."

Naruto stood there, dumbfounded, and then quickly became furious.

"I'M GONNA FLATTEN YOU!" He screamed, and charged towards the jounin. Each time he tried to land a hit the older man dodged neatly, all while reading and occasionally giggling at the story. It looked infuriating to Sakura.

"Showing your back so many times is very poor taijutsu," Kakashi-sensei said from behind Naruto suddenly, and Sakura's eyes widened. He was making the sign of the tiger. But that was…

"ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!" Kakashi-sensei yelled, hands pointing upwards, and suddenly Naruto went flying, clutching his behind. Sakura stared.

Did he just…?

Naruto landed in the river, and Sakura began to plan. The mission was to get the bells, so that meant either a close-range taijutsu fight which had already been attempted by Naruto, or making Kakashi-sensei immobile. He was an ex-ANBU so this mission might be impossible, but not being able to win didn't mean she wouldn't try. That was something she learned how to do every night until she collapsed. And as long as she could make him believe he didn't need his Sharnigan eye, she might have a chance with a clone or transformation.

At that moment, five Naruto's burst out of the water to attack Kakashi-sensei, and Sakura gaped. Each of those bodies were completely solid! What technique was he using?!

Narutos held the taller man down, but suddenly Kakashi-sensei wasn't in the group of orange bodies. Sakura blinked. A transformation? Or…

"Why hello there," Kakashi said, and Sakura whipped around.

"Hmmm…" he said to her, "You're the unknown factor in this little group."

Sakura pulled out a kunai and rushed towards him, seeing her chance. Kakashi dodged, and blocked her arm, but Sakura used his hold on her wrist to flip up and around him. A quick twist of her hand made sure Kakashi would get sliced if he kept his hold on her for long, so that her kunai wouldn't be used against her. She tried to sweep out a hand near the bells, but Kakashi threw her away. She flipped in the air, and landed on her feet.

Sakura and Kakashi studied each other, and then she charged him again silently, expecting him to move behind her like he did with Naruto. He didn't fail her expectations. Instead of keeping her momentum going forward, she planted a foot in the ground, rooted herself with chakra, and spun backwards, shuriken flying. Kakashi disappeared and the shuriken landed in a log mid-air. Sakura surveyed the trees, but blinked as Sasuke and Naruto came into view, lying on the ground.

"Sakura," Sasuke said, and coughed. Blood came out of his mouth, and Sakura paled as she saw his entire body riddled with shuriken and bloody. Naruto was the same way, but unconscious and his neck twisted at an unnatural angle. Dead.

Sakura grimaced, and put up her hands to dispel the genjutsu. It wasn't hard to repress the tiny amount of chakra she did have. And besides, Uncle Shin had provided much, much more detailed images of death. Her parents included.

"Where did you go, Kakashi-sensei?" She said softly to the empty forest, and then jumped up into the trees. She followed the sound of fighting, a big wooshing sound, and Sasuke's surprisingly girly yelp.

Sakura quickly made a basic illusion clone and ran inside it, making it so that Kakashi-sensei wouldn't notice a difference between the clone and the real thing. The clone attacked Kakashi-sensei while he was giving Sasuke a lecture, and Sakura sliced at the jounin's side while he was distracted by the attack of her clone on top of herself. The two strings on the bells snapped, and Sakura immediately threw shuriken at her sensei, blocking him from being able to reclaim them. He jumped backwards, hand reaching toward his side as the clone dispelled.

* * *

><p>"Well, unknown factor indeed." Kakashi said, rubbing his neck. "Never underestimate your opponent." He studied the small girl. She had nowhere near the muscle memory or flexibility ability to be that fast, or the ability to create an illusion clone that quickly while attacking. She must've made the clone long before she attacked. Had he known he would've needed the Sharnigan, this would've ended very differently, but for an academy graduate to reach this level of strategy was… Impressive. Even beyond Sasuke's abilities, and Naruto's surprises.<p>

Sakura ducked and shook her head, picking up the bells. "No sensei, if you had been expecting it, or used your other eye, I wouldn't have had a chance." Kakashi watched as Sakura turned towards the mostly-buried Sasuke and helped move the dirt and rocks around him so he could get out.

"You looked up my bingo book profile then, I assume?" he asked. Sakura looked at him, then quickly nodded. Too quickly, Kakashi noticed.

The three walked over to where Naruto was strung up by the trap, and Sakura cut him down. She then handed the two boys the bells. "You deserve these," she said quietly. Sakura then nodded once at Kakashi-sensei and jumped into the trees, running back towards the village gates alone.

* * *

><p>She wiped a tear from her eye and ground her teeth together. She knew it was useless, and she knew that those boys needed to be genin much more than she did. They had potential to be strong, and they had dreams to push for. Sakura, she was just did what she was told. Even if she had got the bells, it was only because she had taken advantage of the boys being tied up. If the two of them had been loose and worked together, she wouldn't have stood a chance.<p>

* * *

><p>Kakashi stared at the two boys. They stared at the bells in their hands. And then all three males looked towards where Sakura disappeared to.<p>

"Sakura got the bells?" Naruto asked Kakashi. The jounin nodded.

The boy looked at the bell in his hand and then at Sasuke. "It's not right. She deserves them, cause she got them."

"For once something out of your mouth makes sense, idiot." Sasuke smirked at him.

"We'll be right back, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said and the two boys went to follow Sakura, leaving Kakashi behind. He blinked. And then pulled up his hitai-ate and activated the Sharnigan to see if anyone had been using a genjutsu on him. And then blinked again, pulling down the konoha hitai-ate.

He looked at the memorial of the people who had died serving Konoha and smiled.

"I think I finally found them, Obito, Rin, Sensei."

Kakashi picked up the three bento boxes and went to go catch up with his new students.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Sasuke was getting increasingly frustrated at Sakura. She was impossible to find.<p>

"Eh, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, while they were running towards the village. "Do you think she went back to the academy?" Sasuke shook his head and looked around.

"Oi, you two." Kakashi-sensei called out behind them. They whirled around to face the jounin, and he pointed up at the top of the Hokage monument. "She's up there."

* * *

><p>Sakura sat on top of the Fourth Hokage as she looked out over the village.<p>

"Sakura!" She heard someone yell behind her. She turned and looked at the bright orange jumpsuit and sighed. Naruto. And Sasuke was right next to him.

"Yes?" She asked quietly.

"Why did you give these to us?" Sasuke asked rather bluntly.

Sakura bit her lip and looked away from them, back over the village. She was quiet for a long moment. "Because you both would have gotten them anyway, and you two need to be shinobi more than I do."

Naruto stared at her. "What?"

Sakura sighed, and wrapped her arms around her knees, not looking at the boys.

"No one sees me in this village, Naruto. But I'm okay with that. You didn't even know who I was until yesterday. But you can make people see you, and you have a dream to be the Hokage one day. To achieve it, you need to be a shinobi. And Sasuke, you have someone you want to kill. Someone who is insanely strong. And you need better training, to be able to fight. Being in a team will help you do that."

"And what about you?" Naruto asked rather loudly. "You're stronger than both the asshole and me, you deserve to be a genin."

"No, I don't. But even if I did deserve it, I don't need it."

"But, you said your dream was to be able to protect, right?" Naruto asked, grasping at anything that might convince her.

Sakura smiled slightly, still looking away from him. "That's an impossible dream."

Naruto glared at her. "YOU A-"

"Well well well," Kakashi-sensei appeared in front of the three of them, cutting off Naruto's impeding tirade. "It seems I've found you three." He handed the genin the three bento boxes. "Congratulations."

Naruto , Sasuke, and even Sakura looked up at him in confusion. "You pass."

"WHAAAAAA~?" Naruto exploded. "But you said only two would pass!"

Kakashi nodded. "It's true, I did say that. But true shinobi always look for the hidden meanings within the hidden meanings." Naruto scratched his head, and Sakura stared up at their sensei. "Sakura, you have violated the rules I set forth in the exercise." She paled and started trembling, but also tensed, ready to fight. Interesting, Kakashi noted. But the jounin smiled again. "In the shinobi world, those who violate the rules and fail to follow orders are worse than trash," he continued.

Sakura looked away from the older man and back to the village, twisting the chain around her wrist nervously. "I know," she whispered.

"Ah, but it seems there is something that the three of you do not know." Kakashi chuckled as the three looked up at him with matching expressions of confusion. "Those who do not care for and support their friends are even worse than that! And the three of you have shown that you do care.

"The goal of this exercise was for the three of you to work together, even if one of you were to fail. If you boys had worked together, you may have been able to get the bells from me. However, Sakura surprised me. She wasn't being obvious about her abilities, and probably could have fought for much longer than you two did. But she decided to give you the bells in order to help you two grow. You both rejected that because she deserves the prize. You three were looking out for each other. And so… You pass!" The jounin's eye crinkled in a smile.

Naruto grinned. "YEAH! IM FINALLY A NINJA!" He crowed happily.

"Tch, idiot," Sasuke muttered, but he smirked slightly.

"Eat up, ducklings! Our real missions start tomorrow. Meet me at the Hokage's tower at 9am." Kakashi winked at the stunned Sakura and disappeared. The three looked at each other, shrugged, then opened their lunches and began to eat.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN**_

Welp yeah that happened. It's my story, I can do what I like with it. :) However, I hope you guys liked it too! And if you're feeling some righteous anger against Shin, you may not want to be around anything breakable for the next chapter.


	5. Reactions

_**Reactions**_

Uncle Shin was _not _in a good mood when Sakura returned to her house that evening, particularly when he noticed that she still wore her hitai-ate.

"Well, I suppose the Uchiha boy needs a team to proceed," Shin said to himself after, twirling a senbon around in his fingers dangerously. Sakura swallowed and watched every muscle in his shoulder and arm, in case he were to throw another one at her. "And with the two failures in the class, Hatake can focus all of his training in him."

Shin's arm suddenly extended and Sakura dodged the senbon which had landed where her arm had been moments before. "You, brat," he said. "Keep an eye on the Uchiha boy for me. Tell me what he knows, and what he's learning."

Sakura bowed. "Yes, Uncle."

He turned to the scraggy pink-haired girl, who flinched nearly imperceptibly as his killing intent spiked. Shin smirked. Oh this was fun, to play with the trash. "You can start by telling me how the Uchiha fought against Kakashi-_sensei,_" he sneered.

The girl started trembling, and Shin raised an eyebrow and waited for the brats response. "Well...?"

"I, I did not see it," she stammered quietly.

Shin was silent for a few moments, but could barely control the killing intent radiating from his entire body.

Sakura felt all the blood run from her face as the waves of killing intent spiked, and she clenched her fist so tightly she half expected it to bleed. The pain was a good distraction from her fear and it helped her move, to be able to dodge when Uncle Shin was furious at her.

"And why," Sakura flinched when Shin finally spoke. "Did you not see it?" His voice sounded like ice.

"Kakashi-sensei had used a genjutsu on me." She answered in nearly a whisper, tracking Uncle Shin's every move from behind her bangs. She had to be ready.

Uncle Shin moved almost imperceptibly fast across the room, and his hand slammed into the wall where Sakura's head had been a few milliseconds before. His face showed no emotion, but the house shook and the frames of her parents on the wall rattled. Sakura stood near him, tensed and fearful. She couldn't count on being able to dodge him forever.

"And I haven't taught you enough to escape from a measly genjutsu, brat?" Uncle Shin said to her, voice low and undertoned in rage. Sakura didn't reply, because speaking only ever made it worse. "It seems you need a remidial lesson, then."

Sakura heard a loud crack, and the back of her head exploded in pain. Her vision went black and she cried out, but lost consciousness before she hit the floor.

Suddenly everything became crystal clear, and she was falling. She desperately tried to dispel the genjutsu, but hit freezing cold water face-first and couldn't breathe, couldn't move, as the water filled her mouth and ears and she was drowning again...

_**A/N**_

Yep, I know its short. The next chapter will be longer, I promise.


	6. Questions

**_Questions_**

* * *

><p>Sakura nearly fell asleep the net day at the Hokage's office again waiting for Kakashi-sensei with her team. She hadn't gotten very much sleep last night, when every time she closed her eyes she felt the crushing darkness and pain of drowning and of not being able to breathe.<p>

But something was niggling at the back of her mind. People were obviously glaring at Naruto, but being in a team with him had made it quite obvious to Sakura that he wasn't a danger to anything but their egos. And he couldn't have possibly pulled enough pranks to annoy everyone in the entire village. And his pranks weren't bad enough to make people, even shinobi, _afraid _of him…

"I don't know why he's always so late," Naruto grumbled to himself. Sakura smiled to herself as he fidgeted, obviously not able to keep still.

"Um, Naruto?" She said tentatively. He turned around and squinted up at her.

"What?" He asked, obviously annoyed. Sakura clenched the chain tighter around her wrist, but continued on because she knew it was just Kakashi-sensei's lateness that had him annoyed.

"What was that technique you using yesterday, against Kakashi-sensei?" She asked, mainly to distract him from concocting some intricate prank. At that Sasuke stood up a little straighter, obviously listening in, and Naruto perked up.

"Oh, it was this one really epic jutsu thingy I got from..." He paled and then trailed off. "Well, nevermind about that, but it's super awesome! Its like the regular clone jutsu, but it's called the Shadow Clone, and it's a whole lot easier to do." Sakura raised an eyebrow. She knew it required an immense amount of chakra just to create one shadow clone, much less the five the boy had made yesterday. Uncle Shin had occasionally made one in their spars.

"That sounds really cool. Do you think you could show me how?" Sakura said, curiosity finally getting the better of her. And Naruto was so open it was almost too easy to get him to talk. Except for his one slip earlier, but she didn't want to pry.

"Sure!" He replied, and then remembered Sasuke was standing right behind him. "But not while the bastard is standing right there. It's too awesome for him to know it," he stage-whispered conspiratorially. Sakura giggled as Sasuke huffed and tried to pretend that he wasn't listening.

"Then what about you?" Sasuke asked Sakura pointedly. "Where did you learn to fight that way? You never did stuff like that at the academy." Sakura looked at him through her bangs.

"My uncle spars with me at home, that's all. Hes a chunin, so..." She trailed off. "I only used what the academy had taught us in the school spars. They don't really teach us how to seriously fight," she supplied, unable to think of a better explanation that wouldn't make the two boys worry. However, they both stared at her calculatingly for some reason.

"And _that,_" The three looked up at Kakashi-sensei as he walked towards them. "Is part of the reason we do missions for the village."

"ARE YOU _ALWAYS_GONNA BE LATE?!" Naruto yelled.

"Now, now," Kakashi-sensei said, eye crinkling up in what was supposed to be a harmless smile. "Is that any way to talk to your elders, Naruto? Better get a move on, or we're going to be late!" He said cheerfully and strolled right through the doorway leaving the three genin behind, stunned.

"OI, HOLD UP, YOU'RE THE LATE ONE HERE!"

The three rushed in to follow behind their incredibly _late_ sensei.

* * *

><p>"Hey, old man! Give us a super cool mission, pleeeeaaaaaaaaase?!" Naruto burst out as soon as the four walked into the Hokage's office, to Sakura's absolute horror. He was going to be punished for disrespect and then the Hokage would be mad and send them back to the academy and-<p>

"I'll see what I can do," the Hokage chuckled, and Sakura's mouth fell open. She glanced over at Sasuke, who was also staring at the Hokage and Naruto in surprise. "However, since the three of you have barely graduated, you will have to do some basic missions within the community first in order to understand how they work, and to give you a chance to train as a team before you are sent off on more dangerous missions. I'm sure you understand, Naruto."

Naruto crossed his arms in a pout, but Sakura figured he was too excited about actually being a ninja to put up much of a fight. She still couldn't quite wrap her head around the fact that Naruto knew the strongest shinobi in the village and could call him 'old man,' and still come away alive, though.

"I think I'll start you off with a simple mission. This scroll of information needs to be taken to the central library." The Hokage held out a scroll, which Naruto eagerly grabbed. "Come back as soon as possible, and I'm sure Kakashi will start you up on your first real mission report."

"YEAH!" Naruto punched the air and then raced out of the office. Sakura blinked and Sasuke sighed, then followed their overexcitable teammate.

Kakashi followed his team out of the office, one hand raised lazily in a farewell.

* * *

><p>Predictably, Naruto had no idea where the library was at all, and had realized this fact as soon as he had got outside of the main building. He waited impatiently for the rest of his team to amble at an <em>incredibly <em>slow and boring pace. Sakura came out of the building first, closely followed by the bastard, and then the lazy excuse of a sensei they had.

Sakura smiled at him, which did weird things to his stomach that wasn't just spoiled milk. People didn't usually smile at him. And she was always so serious, and sad, or tired-looking. She was pretty when she smiled, even if she wasn't _nearly _as pretty as Ino was. "I'd thought we'd have to catch up with you at the library, Naruto," she said.

"Ahahaha," Naruto laughed awkwardly, rubbing his head. "I thought it would be a better idea to wait for you guys, since we're a team and all."

The bastard raised an eyebrow. "You forgot where it was didn't you, idiot."

Naruto growled and tried to throw a punch at Sasuke to wipe the grin off his stupid face but was suddenly airborne, held up by Kakashi-sensei who still was reading that stupid book.

"Lemme at him, I'll flatten him into the dirt!" Naruto yelled, trying to wriggle out of his sensei's grip. Sasuke's smirk only grew bigger. "I'm _not stupid!_"

And then Naruto stopped as he heard a sound he hadn't heard before yesterday. Sakura was laughing again. Quietly, but she was still laughing. He and Sasuke glanced at each other, wide-eyed. Neither of them had ever heard her speak in more than a few ritualistic words at spars in the academy, much less actually laugh, before yesterday. And she was doing it again.

"Well you're the one with the scroll we're supposed to deliver," Sasuke said, trying to cover up his confusion.

"Hmph," Naruto crossed his arms, feeling the scrolls weight in his hand and trying to not show how weirded out he was that Sakura could actually laugh. It wasn't a bad thing, but it was still _strange_. "I know that."

"Then act like it for once, moron." Naruto turned up his nose at the bastard still laughing at him – _he **knew **Sasuke was laughing on the inside – _and stomped away, planning revenge. Sneaking into his house and switching all his food out for ramen was too nice, the bastard didn't even _deserve _the instant ramen. Maybe he'd just put super spicy stuff that burns in Sasuke's milk. And bed. And water. And soap. And clothes. And weapons. And hair. And-

"Um, Naruto," Sakura giggled softly. "The library is the other way." Naruto spun on his heel, pointedly ignoring the three of his teammates and stalked off the in the opposite direction. Sasuke and Sakura followed him, snickering quietly, with Kakashi-sensei picking up the rear.

* * *

><p>Hatake Kakashi wasn't actually reading at the moment though, he was inspecting his team by <em>extremely covert<em> methods.

Their teamwork could use some adjusting, but it looked like they already had a routine nearly set up from day one. Sasuke and Naruto understood each other well, he thought, and Sakura could hopefully balance the two out. Though Kakashi had the feeling that, despite the two other boys's ambition and abilities, she would be able to keep up with them quite nicely and maybe even continue surpassing them. She may turn out to be a leader yet.

While the two were still genin ranked in ability and maybe low chunin for Sasuke's taijutsu, Sakura was already a mid-chunin rank in taijutsu and strategy, possibly higher, and her chakra control was amazingly efficient for a genin her age. But there was hardly any of her chakra to speak of, now that Kakashi inspected her chakra coils (while his ducklings couldn't see him use the Sharnigan, of course). They were slightly deformed and held such a small amount for even a genin it was actually laughable when compared to Naruto's insane and even Sasuke's large reserves. They were honestly lower than a civilian's chakra level, so she should by all rights be in a state of chakra exhaustion.

But she kept walking, watching Sasuke and Naruto's banter with a smile that Kakashi suspected she rarely ever wore.

He knew that she could keep fighting for much longer than either of the boys had the stamina for, at least without a break, so how had she gotten so ridiculously powerful for her age?

It wasn't from the Academy, which had tested her at below average, nor was it something she had learned on her own. She didn't have an ambition like Naruto or Sasuke, and even if she did Sasuke was a prime example of just how far self-teaching could go. And she fought like she had battle experience, but she also wasn't afraid to lose. She didn't have the arrogance that went with her level of strength, she actually had absolutely none. She was insecure and fearful, as evidenced by hiding her face by her hair and that chain she wrapped around her left hand and forearm, but she fought without any reserve. She underestimated herself compared to her peers, but also knew her limits and exactly what she could do. It made absolutely no sense.

He frowned, she had said something about an Uncle Shin training her two days beforehand, at the introductions. He must've been a chunin rank, to train her at least to where she was at, but… Her strength was the kind that people got from fighting much stronger people, repeatedly, and barely coming away alive. That experience had broken many shinobi, and made even more unfit for the similar ANBU training regimen.

Kakashi's eye narrowed imperceptibly. Who, exactly, was this Uncle Shin?

He resolved to figure it out, but in the meantime, it looked like missions in the morning and training in the afternoon for his three ducklings. Team fieldwork required a finesse they didn't really have yet. The boys needed some work before they were ready, and Sakura still had a ways to go yet to be completely efficient on a team.

* * *

><em><strong>AN:**_

Ugh finals are awful. Seriously. But hey, thank you guys for sticking with this story! Next chapter will have some of Sasuke's point of view.


	7. OPTIONAL Authors Note 1

Hey guys, like it says this isn't actually a chapter, so you are all completely welcome to skip it if you just want the story (I probably would honestly)

...

This is me apologizing for the months its been since I've actually uploaded what I've written. I've honestly been struggling with some depression lately, and then it attacked my faith, and God is literally to most important thing in my life (and hey - if it's not for you that okay!) and so I was in a very, very bad place for a couple weeks. I know most of you guys aren't religious or anything but even if, could you maybe say a prayer for me? (I'm Christian) Even if you don't, which is completely okay and if any of this offends you just please ignore it. I just... I need some help, because I'm not strong enough to battle this depression on my own. It's always kinda been in the background, when I start questioning reality and ideas and dreams, and this is literally the worst I have ever felt in my entire life.

I love Naruto because in it, he never gives up, and I am always so ready to give up on everything he's kinda my hero. And that's why I'm writing this story, I just have kinda forgotten how to dream, and write, and pretty much live, in the past month of loneliness. To any of those of you out there struggling with the same, I'm here for you. Literally message me anything and I will talk to you, at close to any time of the day or hour.

So that's my crappy excuse, and it might take me a while to get back into this story, (I still make no promises on the quality, either) but I promise you I won't give up. :)


	8. Sasuke's Decision

A week after their first mission, Sasuke woke up and groaned as he switched on the light. He hurt _everywhere,_ from that stupid team sparring_._ Kakashi was going to be late again today anyways, he could probably just sleep in…

And then Sasuke's eyes flew open and he jumped out of bed. Naruto had nearly pinned him on the ground yesterday in their spar during training. Sasuke was getting stronger, too, so of course he had beat the ridiculous loudmouth, but it was getting harder to do. He sure wasn't going to laze around when Naruto was training. If the class dunce was ever stronger than him, there was no way he was going to be able to beat Itachi.

Sasuke ground his teeth together as he got his breakfast and headed to the training grounds. Sakura had been helping the idiot train, making him go over the basic drills until he could do them perfectly. Sasuke could already do that, but maybe if he asked for help he'd get stronger faster...

No, that was a stupid idea, he thought, watching from the shade of the forest as Sakura poked at Naruto's form. He'd have to train with Naruto, of all people. Being on a team with him was enough irritation already.

Sakura motioned Naruto to attack her and he did, but she dodged perfectly and bopped Naruto on the head. After the quick exchange, Sasuke saw her stagger, just slightly. He had observed quite a few of these moments. Headaches, when she would wince as Naruto hollered, nausea when she would place a hand protectively over her stomach, dizziness when she used chakra to balance her body. Sasuke figured it was just because of an intense training regimen she did at home so he didn't worry about it too much, but he couldn't help but be a little annoyed. For as strong as she was, she had to know that you needed to rest after training, and it seemed like she never did. There were dark circles around Sakura's eyes every day, and she always seemed to be on guard.

Sakura recovered instantly, of course, and had Naruto come at her again. Sasuke snorted, they were both stubborn morons.

Naruto's head whipped around and found him standing by the trees, and Sasuke almost groaned.

"Oi, bastard, I'm gonna take you on, believe it!" he crowed, pointing towards the Uchiha.

"You couldn't beat me in a million years, idiot." Sasuke said, and tried not to think about the fact that Sakura had respectfully and wordlessly wiped the training ground with both of them during spars, even when Kakashi had the two boys gang up on her.

"Why don't you join us, Sasuke?" Sakura asked softly.

He glared at her, and then regretted it instantly when she looked down again. How did she act so utterly ashamed of herself when she was so strong?

"I can do all of that already," he tried again, in a slightly less forceful way. It apparently didn't work, since Sakura hunched down even further, so Sasuke glared at Naruto instead. "Besides, I think the moron needs all the help he can get."

Naruto face turned purple, twisted in rage, and he flew at Sasuke. "You bastard, I'm just as good as you!" he hollered.

Sasuke dodged the fist coming towards his face, but barely managed to avoid the leg coming at his neck. He blocked it and skidded back a few inches. Naruto flipped and landed lightly on his feet, hands up.

"Make sure you use your torso," Sakura called out quietly. "And if you're going to go around him, don't show your back, Naruto."

"I got this!" he yelled, and attacked Sasuke once more. Sasuke blinked, defending himself against Naruto automatically. Had Sakura just roped him into the training session anyway?

In his distraction, the idiot slammed a fist into Sasuke's shoulder. He jumped back and studied the furious loudmouth for a moment. That wasn't something he had ever done or been able to do before. Sasuke could usually predict every single move he made.

He quickly took his opportunity to tie the orange eyesore up with ninja wire and leave him hanging upside down from a tree, turning a violent shade of red and yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Naruto, you have to watch Sasuke, or at least be ready for anything," Sakura admonished lightly.

"Hmph," Naruto began grumbling to himself in the tree and swearing vengance on Sasuke, who merely smirked again and turned to Sakura.

"If you have anything decent to teach me that I don't know already, I suppose we can train together," Sasuke studiously avoided looking at her face, but he could still see Sakura's face light up in a grin. For some reason she always smiled more when she was with the team.

"Really?!" she asked.

Sasuke stayed silent as a faint flush crept up his neck, but it didn't seem like Sakura needed a reply.

He needed all the help he could get to be strong enough to take his revenge on Itachi, anyway.

Kakashi smiled as his pink-haired student immediately started Sasuke on a strength training regimen. The Uchiha looked less than pleased with his luck, but gritted his teeth and used all of his strength to pummel the daylights out of the unforgiving post.

Sakura was a very, very good teacher. Kakashi still wasn't sure how she kept on standing and fighting with her levels of chakra, but he did know about her chunin uncle and the abuse she was going through, night after night. He was currently at war with himself on whether or not to intervene, though.

Shin, as an active ninja reporting to the Hokage, couldn't suddenly disappear or suspiciously change routine without a good reason. And he was a bastard, yes, but Sakura was strong because of that. Until Kakashi lost all of his humanity, he couldn't train innocent kids the way Sakura had been trained. He didn't know how to give children the strength to withstand torture without actually torturing them at least a little, and usually jounin didn't have to supply that particular training anyways. Because that's what happened on the higher ranked missions.

That's why the genin did the easy ones first. To understand the civilians, the people, they were protecting, before they were thrown into subterfuge and war and inevitably broken.…

But maybe that wasn't the right approach with his team. Every single one of them had been put through a kind of hell already, and they had all become a much stronger person because of that, in their own way. They weren't true kids, anymore. They had the hearts of children, but the pasts of tortured shinobi. Perhaps he could train them to a level they could handle mentally, to be stronger than the average genin or even chunin.

Sakura and Naruto were determined, to both protect their friends and to help them do their absolute best. But Sasuke was the most broken one of the three. While the other two didn't have a family anymore (because Shin didn't count, not the way a parent was supposed to) Sasuke had watched his brother, a person he admired and looked up to more than anyone in the world, turn into a murderer right before his eyes. And so Sasuke didn't have that ability to see other people, to understand them or even want to, anymore. And Kakashi supposed that was to be expected, because he had both known and lost much, much more than the other two.

Perhaps they could handle the more in-depth training, if he watched Sasuke closely. And as for Shin, well maybe he'd just have to convince the Hokage to give him nice long and most likely fatal missions until his genin got their own nice, long, easy missions out of the village.

Kakashi had his hands full, now. He needed his genin to grow exponentially, and he needed to keep up Sakura's strength without her bastard of an uncle around. He sighed. Maybe it was time to use the Sharnigan in their training…

The next day…..

"I will be leaving on a recon mission, and will probably be gone for the next week. I will expect you to give a full report on Sasuke's development when I return."

"Yes, Uncle." Sakura bowed, barely able to contain her excitement.

Shin disappeared, and Sakura ran up the stairs eagerly.

She stopped in front of the door to her parents' room, suddenly nervous. She always did this when Uncle was gone, but this time she was a real shinobi. Even if Uncle said she didn't deserve it, well, she probably never would.

She took her hitai-ate off her waist and tied it around her forehead, sliding her bangs to the side so the Konoha leaf was visible. She could pretend, right? Her parents would understand.

Sakura took a deep breath, turned the door handle, and walked inside the bedroom she had memorized by heart. She looked around at the room, with her father's two traditional katana lying in the corner and her mother's extra set of shinobi armor lying on the bed. They had been left behind on when her mom and dad went on that mission, to Sound. That, and a picture, was all she had left of her parents.

Sakura climbed onto the bed and sat there silently for a few minutes. Then she went and touched the armor, committing it to memory once more. She drew the black-bladed swords and held them, measuring their weight. They were heavier than they looked, but still razor-sharp and beautiful.

She was a shinobi now. She could learn to use the swords, and take them on dangerous missions. Sakura wasn't big enough to fit into her mother's armor, but she planned on using it when she could. It was just lucky Uncle Shin had never cared about anything in the house.

A dog barked outside, bringing her back, and Sakura spun around, eyes wide. She had completely forgotten they had another mission today! And even though Kakashi was always late, she still trained with the boys until he came.

Sakura ran to the training grounds as quickly as she could, and let out a sigh of relief when she heard both boys arguing loudly. She was honestly worried they would knock each other unconscious if left alone together for too long.

She stopped at the edge of the clearing to watch the boys and couldn't help smiling.

"Your punches are too strong, idiot. If you put your entire strength in them and lose your balance then you just end up on the ground looking like a moron." Sasuke said, effortlessly deflecting Naruto's strikes.

"Grrrr….." Naruto growled at him, looking for an opening. "Yours aren't even strong, isn't that why you had to punch a piece of wood for hours yesterday, bastard?"

Sasuke glared and this time caught Naruto's punch mid-air and pulled his arm downwards. He flipped Naruto over onto his back. "At least I can stay on my feet, dumbass."

Naruto jumped back on his feet, _snarled _at Sasuke and lost what little composure he had. Sakura observed his movements carefully. He was steadier on his feet, as he attacked Sasuke, though he still forgot most of the balance and stances she had taught him in his rage.

So he needed to use his skills in combat more often. Hmmmmmmm…

"They're getting much better, though, aren't they?" Sakura jumped and whirled around to face Kakashi-sensei.

"Ye-yes they are," she stuttered in suprise. "But Kakashi-sensei, its so early! Why are you here?"

The jounin smiled. "I wanted to check up on my lovely ducklings. But more importantly, I wanted to ask what your home training consisted of, Sakura."

"Wha- why?! I mean, all we do is fight, and spar, so…"

"Sakura," Kakashi cut her off gently. "You are much, much stronger than those boys are now, and stronger than nearly all of the genin I know of in Konoha. They need to grow stronger, and so do you, for our missions. But I need to know how you got your strength, and fighting instinct."

Sakura stared at her sensei. "Uncle Shin," she started, trembling, and looked towards the boys, taking a deep breath. "He uses me to train. We spar a lot, every night, until I can't be a useful partner anymore. And we'll work on dodging practice, endurance, signs – although I can't really use any ninjutsu very well – speed, and stealth in the Haruno yard from the time he comes back until around midnight or later."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "And you manage to keep up with that every night? That's quite impressive."

Sakura looked up at him in confusion. "Not really, it's been a routine for years now. He doesn't think I'm very good at all, and I can never keep up with him."

Kakashi stared at the rest of his team thoughtfully. "Hmmmmm. And what about your chakra seal?"

Sakura went white. "He, Uncle said it would help me learn how to control it better, and be able to fight without it."

Kakashi placed a hand on top of the girls head, and felt her calm down slightly. He ruffled her bangs, and said, "Alright. Thank you for telling me that. Sakura, would you go get the boys, and meet me at the training grounds we had our bell test at?"

Sakura nodded beneath his hand and heard him disappear from behind her.


End file.
